CPR Bridge - Castlegar, BC
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 19.841 W 117° 39.779
11U E 451829 N 5464428
This is possibly the only movable bridge in the Kootenays.
Waymark Code: WMG4T2
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 01/13/2013
Views: 3
When the Columbia & Kootenay Railroad arrived in Castlegar around 1896, the major venue for commercial and passenger traffic in the area was the Columbia River. It was the Highway for several sternwheelers, all of which were owned by Canadian Pacific by that time. Canadian Pacific bought this railroad and continued it west to Grand Forks prior to construction of this bridge.
As the railroad entered Castlegar on the north side of the Columbia, a bridge was necessary in order to access points south, most notably the Cominco lead/zinc/gold smelter(which the CPR also owned at the time) about 25 km to the south, down the Columbia River Valley. In order to allow the paddle wheelers free passage, it was deemed necessary to include a movable section in the bridge. The bridge itself wasn't built until 1902.
However, there was no longer a need for river traffic south of Castlegar and the sternwheelers ran only north from to Castlegar, as far north as Revelstoke. As a result, it is very likely that the swing section of this bridge was never actually used.